STORY OF THE MONTH
(Jul 2026)


Babaji Materialises A Golden Palace in the Himalayas

(As Narrated by Sri Lahiri Mahasaya Ji)

“My first meeting with Babaji took place in my thirty-third year.

In the autumn of 1861, I was stationed in Danapur as an accountant in the Military Engineering Department of the Government. One morning the office manager summoned me:

‘Lahiri,’ he said, ‘a telegram has just come from our main office. You are to be transferred to Ranikhet, where an army post is now being established.’

With one servant, I set out on the 500-mile trip. Travelling by horse and buggy, we arrived in thirty days at the Himalayan site of Ranikhet.

My office duties were not onerous; I was able to spend many hours roaming in the magnificent hills. A rumour reached me that great saints blessed the region with their presence; I felt a strong desire to see them.

During a ramble one early afternoon, I was astounded to hear a distant voice calling my name. I continued my vigorous upward climb on Drongiri Mountain. A slight uneasiness beset me at the thought that I might not be able to retrace my steps before darkness descended over the jungle.

I finally reached a small clearing whose sides were dotted with caves. On one of the rocky ledges stood a smiling young man, extending his hand in welcome. I noticed with astonishment that, except for his copper-coloured hair, he bore a remarkable resemblance to myself.

‘Lahiri, you have come!’

The saint addressed me affectionately in Hindi.
‘Rest here in this cave. It was I who called you.’

I entered a neat little grotto that contained several woolen blankets and a few kamandalus (water pots).

‘Lahiri, do you remember that seat?’ The yogi pointed to a folded blanket in one corner.

‘No, sir.’

Somewhat dazed at the strangeness of my adventure, I added, ‘I must leave now, before nightfall. I have business in the morning at my office.’

The mysterious saint replied in English, ‘The office was brought for you, and not you for the office.’

I was dumbfounded that this forest ascetic should not only speak English but also paraphrase the words of Christ.

‘I see my telegram took effect.’
The yogi’s remark was incomprehensible to me; I asked its
meaning.

‘I refer to the telegram that summoned you to these isolated parts. It was I who silently suggested to the mind of your superior officer that you be transferred to Ranikhet. When one feels his unity with mankind, all minds become transmitting stations through which he can work at will.’

The yogi added,
‘Lahiri, surely this cave seems familiar to you?’

As I maintained a bewildered silence, the saint approached and struck me gently on the forehead. At his magnetic touch, a wondrous current swept through my brain, releasing the sweet seed-memories of my previous life.

‘I remember!’
My voice was half choked with joyous sobs.

‘You are my guru Babaji, who has belonged to me always! Scenes of the past arise vividly in my mind; here in this cave I spent many years of my last incarnation!’

As ineffable recollections overwhelmed me, I tearfully embraced my master’s feet.

‘For more than three decades I have waited for you to return to me.’ Babaji’s voice rang with celestial love.

‘You slipped away and disappeared into the tumultuous waves of the life beyond death. The magic wand of your karma touched you, and you were gone!

Though you lost sight of me, never did I lose sight of you! I pursued you over the luminescent astral sea where the glorious angels sail. Through gloom, storm, upheaval, and light I followed you, like a mother bird guarding her young.

As you lived out your human term of womb life, and emerged a babe, my eye was ever on you. When you covered your tiny form in the lotus posture under the Ghurni sands in childhood, I was invisibly present. Patiently, month after month, year after year, I have watched over you, waiting for this perfect day. Now you are with me!

Here is your cave, loved of yore; I have kept it ever clean and ready for you. Here is your hallowed asana-blanket, where daily you sat to fill your expanding heart with God. Here is your bowl, from which you often drank the nectar prepared by me. See how I have kept the brass cup brightly polished, that someday you might drink again from it. My own, do you now understand?’

‘My guru, what can I say?’ I murmured brokenly. ‘Where has one ever heard of such deathless love?’

I gazed long and ecstatically at my eternal treasure, my guru in life and death.

‘Lahiri, you need purification. Drink the oil in this bowl and lie down by the river.’ Babaji’s practical wisdom, I reflected with a quick, reminiscent smile, was ever to the fore.

I obeyed his directions. Though the icy Himalayan night was descending, a warm, comforting radiation began to pulsate within me. I marvelled. Was the unknown oil endued with a cosmical heat?

My solitary musings were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. In the darkness, a man’s hand gently helped me to my feet, and gave me some dry clothing.

‘Come, brother,’ my companion said. ‘The master awaits you.’

He led the way through the forest. As we came to a turn in the path, the somber night was suddenly lit by a steady luminosity in the distance.

‘Can that be the sunrise?’ I enquired. ‘Surely the whole night has not passed?’

‘The hour is midnight.’ My guide laughed softly. ‘Yonder light is the glow of a golden palace, materialised here tonight by the peerless Babaji.

In the dim past, you once expressed a desire to enjoy the beauties of a palace. Our master is now satisfying your wish, thus freeing you from the last bond of your karma.’

He added, ‘The magnificent palace will be the scene of your initiation tonight into Kriya Yoga. All your brothers here join in a paean of welcome, rejoicing at the end of your exile. Behold!’

Before us stood a vast palace of dazzling gold. Ornamented with countless jewels, set amid landscaped gardens, reflected in tranquil pools—a spectacle of unparalleled grandeur!

Towering archways were intricately inlaid with great diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds. Men of angelic countenance were stationed by gates redly resplendent with rubies.

I followed my companion into a spacious reception hall. The odours of incense and roses wafted through the air; dim lamps shed a multicoloured glow. Small groups of devotees, some fair, some dark-skinned, chanted softly or sat silently in the meditative posture, immersed in inner peace. A vibrant joy pervaded the atmosphere.

‘Feast your eyes; enjoy the artistic splendours of this palace; for it has been brought into being solely in your honour,’ my guide remarked, smiling sympathetically as I exclaimed in wonder.

‘In tune with the infinite all-accomplishing Will, Babaji is able to command the elemental atoms to combine and manifest themselves in any form. This golden palace, instantaneously brought into being, is real—in the same sense that the earth is real. Babaji created this beautiful mansion out of his mind and is holding its atoms together by the power of his will, even as God’s thought created the earth and His will maintains it.’

He added, ‘When this structure has served its purpose, Babaji will dematerialise it.’

My stately companion led me through ornate arches and corridors into a series of chambers richly furnished in the style of an emperor’s palace.

We entered an immense hall. In the centre stood a golden throne, encrusted with jewels that shed a dazzling medley of colours. There, in lotus posture, sat the supreme Babaji. I knelt on the shining floor at his feet.

‘Lahiri, are you still feasting on your dream desires for a golden palace?’
My guru’s eyes were twinkling like his own sapphires.
‘Wake! All your earthly thirsts are about to be quenched forever.’

He murmured some mystic words of blessing. ‘My son, arise. Receive your initiation into the kingdom of God through Kriya Yoga.’

Babaji stretched out his hand; a homa (sacrificial) fire appeared, surrounded by fruits and flowers. I received the liberating yogic technique before this flaming altar.

The rites were completed in the early dawn. In my ecstatic state I felt no need for sleep. I wandered about the palace rooms, filled with treasures and exquisite objects d’art, and visited the gardens.

I noticed, nearby, the caves and barren mountain ledges that I had seen yesterday; but then they had not adjoined a great building and flowered terraces.

Reentering the palace, fabulously glistening in the cold Himalayan sunlight, I sought the presence of my master. He was still enthroned, surrounded by many quiet disciples.
‘Lahiri, you are hungry.’ Babaji added, ‘Close your eyes.’

When I reopened them, the enchanting palace and its gardens had disappeared. My own body and the forms of Babaji and his disciples were all now seated on the bare ground at the exact site of the vanished palace, not far from the sunlit entrances of the rocky grottos.

I recalled that my guide had remarked that the palace would be dematerialised, its captive atoms released into the thought essences from which they had sprung. Although stunned, I looked trustingly at my guru. I knew not what to expect next on this day of miracles.”

(Excerpts from the book, “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda) 


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Notes:

1. Sri Lahiri Mahasayaji is the foremost disciple of the peerless guru, Sri Sri Mahavatar Babaji. Lahiri Mahasaya took mahasamadhi (a great yogi's conscious exit from the body) on 26 Sep 1895

2. About Babaji, Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda wrote in his seminal book, 'Autobiography of a Yogi':

"No limiting facts about Babaji’s family or birthplace, dear to the annalist’s heart, have ever been discovered. His speech is generally in Hindi, but he converses easily in any language.

That there is no historical reference to Babaji need not surprise us. The great guru has never openly appeared in any century. Like the Creator, the sole but silent Power, Babaji works in a humble obscurity.

Babaji, an avatar of Lord Krishna, lives near the Badrinath mountains, along with a small group of disciples who too are immortal like the great Mahavatar.  Babaji has promised to retain his physical form till the end of this cycle of creation and guide all sincere practitioners of Kriya Yoga to the home of the Father.

"Whenever anyone utters with reverence the name of Babaji", Lahiri Mahasaya has said, "that devotee attracts an instant spiritual blessing."  

Babaji is ever in communion with Christ; together they send out vibrations of redemption and have planned the spiritual technique of salvation for this age." 

3. Babaji's cave on the Dunagiri Mountain in Uttarakhand - where Lahiri Mahasaya received his Kriya Yoga initiation in 1861 - is still present. The site is currently maintained by the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.

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